I saw the sticky, but I could not descern what the hell "Python Easier" was, or whether I needed it, so I ignored it.

I am very desperately wanting to use this plugin - I am even, as we speak, fiddling around with VMWare Linux images to try and get it running in linux on top of windows. I am willing to try anything and everything - even if I just have a linux vm that is only capable of opening an existing xcf and applying the refract effect then i would be happy.

I already have Python 2.5.2, not 2.6, I saw that.

Part of the problem is that I am not even sure what to do with the files - The linux instructions talk of a MAKE INSTALL, so I think I probably have zero chance of getting it to work on windows as I doubt it works just by dropping files in the plugins folder.

Part of the problem is that I am not even sure what to do with the files - The linux instructions talk of a MAKE INSTALL, so I think I probably have zero chance of getting it to work on windows as I doubt it works just by dropping files in the plugins folder.

The pack include instruction that are quite simple,
inside there are 5 installers you just have to double click on them in the right sequence...
i suggested also to restart the PC twice ,one after installing Python, another at the end ,before reinstalling gimp.
Some reported that reload is not strictly needed anyway solved my problem to install

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The linux instructions talk of a MAKE INSTALL, so I think I probably have zero chance of getting it to work on windows as I doubt it works just by dropping files in the plugins folder.

MAKE INSTALL is of not use in this case, you have the installers to install

But is correct that you " have zero chance of getting it to work on windows just by dropping files in the plugins folder."
that are INSTALLERS not plugin to be dropped ,so you should run them (simply clicking on them) no drop them somewhere as they are

After will be possible " drop" python plugin that you may found in the plugin registry, taking care to move them in a Plugin and not in a script folder
(and to unzip first if are zipped)

Anyway i believe you simply didn't read the instruction to install (that to install in Windows, that are in the only text file inside the pack, not that to install in linux you quoted...)

Requirements
============
GIMP version 2.0 [ http://www.gimp.org/ ]
Python version 2.3 [ http://www.python.org/ ]
pyrex version 0.9.3 [ http://www.cosc.canterbury.ac.nz/~greg/python/Pyrex/ ]
Newer versions of these packages probably work too.
I have only tested this version under Debian Sarge. The code should be
portable to other operating systems, but the process to build it is probably
a little different on non-Linux platforms.
Installation
============
To install to your home directory:
make install
You may have to modify your PYTHONPATH environment variable
to include $HOME/lib/python
For a system-wide installation:
make install-admin

So the author says it will possibly only compile on debian sarge. I did some digging and the make process uses the setup.py, so I had no clue that just clicking it may do an install under windows.

In my defence:
The root dir of refract-0.2.0.tar.gz:
Volume in drive D is DATA
Volume Serial Number is 5C8D-3CD1

I'm not attacking you and I'm not writing about that peculiar python plugin, but in general about support for python plugin in gimp, with windows XP or VISTA

I just wrote that ,maybe, you didn't read MY instruction to add Python support to gimp that are in the "IDIOTS NEVER READ THIS.txt files included in the pack.

That instruction , and the installers allow to use MOST of python script on gimp,( that peculiar script may be a exception because too old) ..at the moment i have tested about 18 py plugin and 17 works well

Anyway if you read and follow the instruction the python module should be now enabled in your gimp, Check it you should have in the Filters menu a voice called Python-fu and ,there a submenu called "console".
.if you may see that "console" submenu but not use a peculiar Python plugin that simple mean that is outdated and will not work with gimp 2.6 , that not only in windows but also in linux.

i don't know python language so i can't fix that script if does not work

But that you wrote here

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The linux instructions talk of a MAKE INSTALL, so I think I probably have zero chance of getting it to work on windows as I doubt it works just by dropping files in the plugins folder.

make me think that you didn't read MY instruction on how install python on windows,since you should not drop Python or Gtk installers in gimp plugin folders

Then about that peculiar "refract" plugin i confess my ignorance

maybe for a fool,for a sadist or a incompetent is possible write a very special python plugin that works only on Debian ,maybe even write a plugin that works only on a Debian OS from the 2004..that seems very strange but maybe is possible..

Heh, s'ok man, I just want anyone reading this to be clear that I am not some idiot who can't read instructions.

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The linux instructions talk of a MAKE INSTALL, so I think I probably have zero chance of getting it to work on windows as I doubt it works just by dropping files in the plugins folder.

make me think that you didn't read MY instruction on how install python on windows,since you should not drop Python or Gtk installers in gimp plugin folders

Your "IDIOTS NEVER READ THIS" file makes no mention of this, you meantioned something about it a couple of posts above:

Quote

But is correct that you " have zero chance of getting it to work on windows just by dropping files in the plugins folder."
that are INSTALLERS not plugin to be dropped ,so you should run them (simply clicking on them) no drop them somewhere as they are

After will be possible " drop" python plugin that you may found in the plugin registry, taking care to move them in a Plugin and not in a script folder
(and to unzip first if are zipped)

but to be honest, I couldnt make much sense of that text - the first sentence ends on the word "are" and the second sentence takes some analysis to decypher (But hey, you speak english better than I speak any other language so I cant grumble). Now knowing something about coding myself, and looking at the code, there seemed to be nothing indicating that the setup script polled the windows registry to see where GIMP was installed and move the files there, so I had zero reason to suspect that you should not copy the file directly into the plugins folder.

So you are saying to unzip the file somewhere, run the setup.py, then copy the files into the plugin folder? That sounds most unusual.

A refract when light enters or exits a material from another, it bends:

You supply a greyscale heightmap of the lens, and it refracts what is behind it realistically.

I am writing a GUI for pocketPC phones. Ultimately, I would like to acheive something like this:
(Mockup done in Adobe Premiere)

What I want the refract for is to make the blue buttons at the top more believable. Have them refract the background behind them.

I found a partial solution in Corel, but it doesn't seem to refract bitmaps, only vectors. I tried Photoshop's Distort Glass plugin, and it seems to work a little strangely. I tried KPT gel, but you do not seem to be able to apply height maps, just draw with a brush. What I ideally want is a solution that I can post up a tutorial for on my dev thread so that anyone can make their own backgrounds and refracted buttons for my UI by following my instructions. Obviously, GIMP is the preferred solution because that way all the software to do it is freely downloadable.

I tried to install you python easier pack last night after I came back from the pub, but that was a bad move, I left GIMP installed until the end (That time I really wasn't following instructions right lol!) and when I uninstalled and reinstalled it, things seemed to go OK, but when I start GIMP I get an error "The procedure entry point g_assertion_message could not be located in DLL libglib-2.0-0.dll". I am about to go back in a minute and remove everthing and start again. Do you need to use the linked GIMP in the "IDIOTS NEVER..." file? Or can I use the latest GIMP? I know it says not to use the latest Python, but it does not seem to indicate whether using the latest GIMP is a Bad Thing.

I went back, uninstalled everything (inc GIMP this time) and followed the instructions to the letter, but I still got the error starting GIMP:
The procedure entry point g_assertion_message could not be located in DLL libglib-2.0-0.dll

I uninstalled the GIMP 2.4.1 linked in the "IDIOTS..." file and installed GIMP 2.6 and no longer got the error. Will proceed attempting to get plugin to work now...

I installed pyrex and re-ran. It complained about some compiler incompatibilities and suggested MinGW32, which is what that article mentioned, so I returned to the article and completed through to step A.5

I then re-ran the setup.py, and it complained it could not find the file gimpplugins/pyxgimp.c

Loads of compiler stuff, but it didn't finish. It did, however, create a pyxgimp.c file in the pyxgimp folder. I tried copying that one to the gimpplugins folder but when I re-ran setup.py, it did the same compiler fail:

uninstalled the GIMP 2.4.1 land installed GIMP 2.6 and no longer got the error. Will proceed attempting to get plugin to work now

...

i updated the pack to ensure compatibility with 2.6
I didn't check then for backward compatibility with Gimp 2.4, and i may have overlook the link for Gimp 2.4, i wrote in the first line of the comment on that DA page and in the plugin registry that was updated for Gimp 2.6

I installed pyrex and re-ran. It complained about some compiler incompatibilities and suggested MinGW32, which is what that article mentioned, so I returned to the article and completed through to step A.5

I then re-ran the setup.py, and it complained it could not find the file gimpplugins/pyxgimp.c

Loads of compiler stuff, but it didn't finish. It did, however, create a pyxgimp.c file in the pyxgimp folder. I tried copying that one to the gimpplugins folder but when I re-ran setup.py, it did the same compiler fail:
Code:

Now I feel a idiot, really i can't follow you here

i never had to do something so complex to use a Py script and i never hear of Pirex before

OK i will try at this point to install that refract filter on my PC

i didn't before because project seems unmaintained from 5 years so i feared that script was too old to be compatible with a modern version of gimp.

That is the problem i may imagine
is not related to add to windows version of gimp support for py plugin,
but to a obsolete (even if cool) script written to work with Gimp 1, updated for Gimp2 but i fear not checked with Gimp 2.6.

But if that is the problem, the solution should be edit the script, not Gimp or Python

The file is in UNIX format, do you see loads of squares?
UNIX/linux uses a different CR/LF ASCII sequence, it's no biggie.

No i do not see a lot of squares
letters are fine what i see is the format messed up, and the comment to the code displayed and highlighted as was part of the code
..but you are right i will open on my linux computer to be sure

And i will change that IDIOTS...was no my intention to offend just to draw attention on that file,( most of windows users will never read a file called README )
but i found a better and more polite way